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The march of major live poker tournaments going online continues, this time, with the World Poker Tour. This one is a bit different, though, as the WPT has created both a new online-only event, not related to anything that was previously planned to be live, and has made it an official part of the Main Tour. The $3,500 WPT Online Poker Open Main Event will be held on the partypoker US Network in New Jersey December 27-29.
This is the first time a World Poker Tour online event in New Jersey will count as a Main Tour event. This means the winner gets their name on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, becomes a member of the WPT Champions Club, and will be awarded a $15,000 seat into the WPT Tournament of Champions. The WPT Online Poker Open Main Event also awards Player of the Year points like any regular Tour event would.
“The WPT Online Poker Open brings the most prestigious prize in poker to New Jersey and the partypoker US Network,” said Adam Pliska, CEO of the World Poker Tour, in Wednesday’s press release. “WPT’s continued pivot toward online will continue with another landmark for regulated online poker in the United States.”
Tran outlasted a field of 47 entries, including WPT Raw Deal host Tony Dunst heads-up, and took down the WSOP Circuit Thunder Valley $3,250 High Roller title for $49,035. The win marks the second. Thunder Valley Casino Resort: Apr 04 2019: WPTDeepStacks Thunder Valley: $1,000 + $100 =$1,100: Thunder Valley Casino Resort: Mar 08 2019: WPT Rolling Thunder: $4,650 + $350 = $5,000: Thunder Valley Casino Resort: Nov 23 2018: WPTDeepStacks Thunder Valley: $1,340 + $120 + $40 = $1,500: Thunder Valley Casino Resort: Apr 05 2018. .Thunder Valley Casino does not charge for text messages. However, standard and other charges may apply from your wireless provider. I certify that I am 21 years of age or older; and I understand that a valid state or federal issued I.D. Is required to obtain my Thunder Rewards Card. The World Poker Tour (WPT) is a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting the final table of each tournament. Welcome to the official World Poker Tour.
Though players do need to be physically located in New Jersey to participate in the tournament, they do not have to play on partypoker’s New Jersey client. BorgataPoker.com and BetMGMPoker.com are also part of the partypoker US Network and open to players in the Garden State, so people who have accounts on one of those sites don’t have to create a new account on partypoker.
The World Poker Tour is encouraging everyone to make sure funds are in their account ahead of time to pay for the $3,500 buy-in, just in case there are any issues. Players may deposit funds from anywhere; they do not have to wait until they are in New Jersey to do so, if they plan on traveling from out of state.
The last live World Poker Tour stop to be run was the WPT Rolling Thunder at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort in California March 7-10. It was essentially that week that shutdowns started to be put in place around the country because of the COVID-19 pandemic. All domestic live events since then, starting with the WPT at Venetian that was scheduled to begin March 13 have been postponed or outright cancelled.
Smaller, regional events have started to get back up and running around the world, but neither the World Poker Tour nor the World Series of Poker have ventured back into casinos. The World Series of Poker did, however, just announce a new hybrid $10,000 Main Event that will start online and conclude with a live competition.
The European Poker Tour is the only major tour that has resumed live tournaments to any degree. The EPT Sochi (Russia) Main Event attracted 637 entries in early October.
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JC Tran says he considers himself a 'washed-up pro,' but he was in top form this weekend en route to winning his third career World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring.
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Tran outlasted a field of 47 entries, including WPT Raw Deal host Tony Dunst heads-up, and took down the WSOP Circuit Thunder Valley $3,250 High Roller title for $49,035. The win marks the second time Tran has won the event, and with the victory, the longtime tournament pro adds to a resume that includes more than $13 million in career earnings.
'I’ve always compared poker to golf. If you don’t play a lot, you can probably still get lucky, get a decent round here and there,' Tran said. 'That’s kind of where I’m at. When I had all my success, I played volume. I played prelims up to mains.'
'These, I kind of pop in and out. I consider myself a washed-up pro. I still got it a little bit here and there. Every now and then I pull a little nice, close run.'
Tran said that while he doesn't put in the volume he used to, he enjoys playing at Thunder Valley Resort, which requires just a 25-minute drive for Tran to the Lincoln, California venue.
Final Table Action
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JC Tran | United States | $49,035 |
| 2 | Tony Dunst | United States | $30,305 |
| 3 | Joshua Shaw | United States | $19,779 |
| 4 | Ben Underwood | Canada | $13,552 |
| 5 | Noel Rodriguez | United States | $9,773 |
| 6 | Roger Bailey | United States | $7,437 |
| 7 | Dapo Ajayi | United States | $5,992 |
| 8 | Darren Rabinowitz | United States | $5,127 |
With eight places paid and the tournament running eight-handed throughout, the official final table was the cutoff point for getting paid in the High Roller.
Tran emerged victorious from a formidable lineup, including Dunst, who came up just short in his bid to win his first career WSOP Circuit ring. After a two-hour heads-up battle, the final hand came down to Dunst with ace-ten offsuit against Tran's pocket queens, with Tran's premium pair holding up.
'I actually haven’t had too many hours with Tony. He played really well,' Tran said. 'It came down to me having queens and he had ace-ten. Tony’s a great player, I have a lot of respect for him. He’s similar to me in some ways, he doesn’t play a ton of these tournaments, because he’s doing stuff with WPT and whatnot.'
Joshua Shaw (3rd - $19,779) was on the short stack for most of three-handed play, finally bowing out after his open shove with jack-nine suited came up short against Dunst's ace-king.
Other tough opponents at the final table included Noel Rodriguez (5th - $9,773), Dapo Ajayi (7th - $5,992), and Darren Rabinowitz (8th - $5,127).
The day began with 23 players in the hunt, with the money bubble bursting during Level 16, the fourth level of play on Day 2.
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Big Names Come Out for the High Roller
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In addition to the loaded final table, other notables coming through the Thunder Valley Poker Room for the High Roller included Brett Murray, Ian Steinman, Joe Kuether, Bryan Piccioli and Andreas Kniep.
Ajayi came into Day 2 as the chip leader and was near the top of the leaderboard for most of the day en route to the money finish. Steinman, one of the shortest stacks in the room coming into Day 2, was out early, as were Murray and Kniep.
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The 47 entries brought the total prize pool to $141,000.
PokerNews coverage of the WSOP Circuit here at Thunder Valley continues with the $1,700 Main Event, which you can follow here.